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March 12, 2014

Extreme Contrasts

It caught my eye, an article on the Inquisiter website about Jessica Duggar, one of the children on the reality TV show 19 Kids and Counting.


Here's a little bit from the article: The four eldest girls of the Duggar clan, Jana, 24, Jill, 22, Jessa, 21, and Jinger, 20, say that “it’s easy to put yourself into physical and moral danger and give into those emotions or sensual thoughts that promise pleasant, but only temporary, fulfillment.”

I should admit that I don't watch the show very often. Unlike many other people, however, I don't hate the Duggars because of their religion or the size of their family. I HAVE seen a few episodes, though and am glad I wasn't raised that way or in such a large family. A little more religion certainly wouldn't have hurt me while I was growing up, but our small house was crowded enough with just the five of us.

One of the last episodes I watched was about Josh, the oldest son, and his marriage to a lovely and sweet young woman, Anna. I was a little surprised when I learned that they hadn't kissed before the wedding, but I believe it was on the same show where I was taken aback at Jim Bob, the patriarch of the family, talking about how his wife Michelle HAD kissed someone before she had married him, not disguising his bitterness while talking to the camera. (I find THAT to be more than a little weird, but...it's not MY wife, after all.  Finding a woman as chaste as he wanted - other than the Duggar girls - is very rare these days.  I think I'd be happy just to find out my new bride hadn't spent a year hooking on the Las Vegas strip)

I had to laugh when the cameras followed the new couple on their honeymoon; I forget exactly where they went, but they took a trip to some sort of marine park and were going to spend their wedding night camping out under a clear arch under a huge tank full of fish. They stayed there for a while, then decided it wasn't very comfortable and went back to their hotel room.

I was wondering why the hell they were spending their first night of marriage sleeping on the floor looking at fish...and I think they got to wondering the same thing after a while.  I don't think it would've been nearly as interesting as getting to know each other...in the Biblical sense. Ahem. I'm sure neither of them knew what they were doing later that night, but I bet they had fun figuring it out.

I read the rest of the article, then a slide-out ad appeared at the bottom - talk about a contrast! (I bookmarked it to read later for some pointers, even though I doubt it'd work on the Duggar girls)

Then this was on a panel of links at the very bottom of the page:



Even MORE contrast...and I'd much rather read about the Duggars than Tongue-Girl.

2 comments:

Barb said...

LOL at the ads you ran across at the bottom of the page. Tongue girl must be running for "over exposed celeb of the millennium".

I've watched the show maybe a dozen times, a few of those with Colleen. Those have been the most interesting times because they've sparked discussions about religion, popular culture and what it's like growing up in today's weird world. We have a couple of very large families at our church (one just hit double digits)and Colleen's gotten to the kids her age. It's been an eye opener for an only child.

Mike said...

I don't know if you saw it or if you did participate in the thread in Comm. FB in Groups, but they were talking about Miley Cryus in a thread and I had JUST seen a program about her dad on tour and in one segment, he mentioned he hadn't spoken with her in a few days. It was about 1:00 in the afternoon and he joked and said he reckoned she was prob. up by now but when he called, she screeched at him and cursed him out. I posted that I would bet anyone a hundred bucks that she would prob. become really famous (this was during the Hannah Montana early days) but would wind up a walking train wreck. I was surprised at the venom I got directed to me, was just like the Bieberites these days defending their idol. Someone said she was a sweet, innocent girl...which made me literally LOL.

Always wondered about being an only child, can't think of very many I grew up with, just one in my class in school. There were three of we kids and the dynamic is strange...really care for one sister, but really dislike the other one. I'm glad I wasn't an only child, but not sure if it'd been better or worse (in a selfish sort of way) if I had been.

The biggest arguments against the Duggars, the ones I come closest to agreeing with, are the economics of their family - how I'm sure they don't pay a dime in fed. income tax and prob. get money back in EIC. I've also heard they claim their new home as a church, so they're given a break on the property tax. Other than that, they seem to be frugal and I doubt they take any welfare or the like.

One of the most valid criticisms I've read is how the older kids have to take care of the younger ones. I understand the criticism, but not sure I agree w/ it 100%. That's the norm for large families, I believe. I do think it would take away from a normal life from normal kids, but that family isn't the norm. The one thing I wonder about it how hard it would be to give the children the one-on-one time they need, but again, the kids seem to be well-adjusted, at least as far as what the TV show portrays.

The mother, Michelle, is a lovely woman and seems to be sweet, but I doubt she'll live a usual length of life b/c that sure seems like it'd be hard on her body having all those children. I know the last baby (or the one before that) had some bad health problems.

Be that as it may, their life is fairly interesting and what they do with it is none of my business.

Thanks f/ the comment!